Like the majority of the rest of the world, the landscape of the film industry is going to be significantly different on the other side of COVID-19. Nonetheless, theaters in some parts of the country have begun to re-open and new movies are in fact being released. Whether you opt to brave the theater experience or go the Video-On-Demand route, Save Yourselves! might just be the perfect light-hearted apocalypse movie for the current situation that is 2020.
A young couple tries to unplug by going to a cabin in the woods but, once they’re away, they find out an alien invasion has taken over New York and other major cities. With limited supplies and even fewer life skills, the couple attempts to save themselves.
The debut feature film for writer/director tandem Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson movie is clever, funny, cute, and has a big heart. It’s more of a relationship movie, but it uses the sci-fi element as a quirky catalyst to drive character development. Ultimately, the story is about these characters finding out who they are under the most unlikely of circumstances. From Weyes Blood’s “Andromeda” in the opening scene to Andrew Orkin’s original score, the music throughout the film is great too, balancing modern
Sunita Mani and John Reynolds are great together and fit the bill as the quintessential millennial couple. There aren’t a whole lot of other performances in the movie but you’d probably recognize John Early and Ben Sinclair in small roles. Keeping it small allowed the focus to stay on the two main characters and how they deal with one another, both in and out of crisis mode.
I enjoyed that the humor was intricately woven throughout the script, rather than being a punchline driven comedy. The jokes are more subtle and require the viewer to buy in on their relationship, which I found easy enough to do. Just because there aren’t moments where I’m belly laughing doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny. It was thoroughly enjoyable and I often found myself either smiling or chuckling regularly.
For all the good things that I did like, the ending was a bit flat. Maybe ambiguous is a better word, but it certainly left me wanting more. Given the premise, there are lingering questions you’d like to see answered, but since it’s ultimately a relationship film, it stops just short of explaining exactly what’s going on. Even so, it was easy enough to accept and didn’t ruin the movie some endings have the ability to do.
Recommendation: If you need a pick-me-up, this is just what the doctor ordered. I really enjoyed this and I think others will too, just keep in mind it’s not a Sci-Fi movie in the traditional sense.